Welcome to the August Uglies!

It happens to all of us.

Your situation is probably being compounded, however, by the white rock you're using as mulch. That white reflects light back up to the hostas and is probably leading to them burning up faster than if you were using something like wood mulch.

I'd also guess you have landscape fabric or plastic under that rock. That prevents water from going into the soil and therefore, the hostas aren't getting as much water.

Good observations there! And thank you for the "It happens to all of us". :) I guess I should have explained the conditions as well so you have more of an idea of what to go by.

I actually took this picture in early July. :( haha. They get MAYBE 1 hour of sunlight in the morning in their current location. And because I live in coastal SC, we have very sandy and compact claylike soil, which, I am sure attributes to the problems.

Is there anything I can do to prevent this? (Short of replacing my entire $400 rock landscaping house surround. haha)

Thanks again!

Even if we didn't have the extreme heatwave and did give tons of extra water through the high temps it still happens. It is just part of the typical life cycle of hosta. Springtime is their glory days. Mid summer to fall they will all decline and get ready to go to sleep for the winter. The roots are taking over growing getting ready for next year. As long as the leaves are still green you should leave them on because they are making energy for the roots to grow. High winds, falling branches, hail and animals can also shred leaves in addition to insects and slugs. I have maple seeds that pierce through leaves in the spring even though they are lightweight.

Since you garden in the southern limits of hosta tolerance, it makes sense that your hostas would go ugly before those of us up here in the tundra.

If it were me, I'd remove rock, plastic/fabric, install drip irrigation and replace with wood mulch. If your house is a light color, it is also reflecting light and heat back to the hostas.

But, I am a hosta collector, not just someone with a more "average" landscape. If you're joe average homeowner, you may just want to accept this as the hostas fate each summer and perhaps plant something around the hostas that would draw your attention away from the declining leaves of the mid to late summer.

Or, instead of replacing all of the rock, maybe just move the hostas into a new bed just for them (yay, new bed!) with no rock or landscape fabric and replace with another plant that will stay more attractive, or some statuary or large boulders or whatever.

Karen

you cold zone peeps are also forgetting.. that her hosta probably came up in late february ...

they are not just looking like mine in august in z5 ..

they are looking like mine in late September .. in z5 ... they are spent.. tired.. ready for dormancy ....

these plants have been out of dormancy almost 3 months longer than ours all ready ...

OP.. hosta sweat.. they give off water.. they recover at night when it cools down ..

your rocks are retaining heat.. all night long.. and the hosta simply can not keep up ...

at a minimum ... if you can not get them out of the rock.. then at least pull the rock back.. under the hosta.. so they are exposed to soil that can cool at night ... [not that anything is going to help them this year ...]

bottom line.. they look like they do.. because they are NOT z8 plants ... if you cant stand how they look .. move on ... there should be a lot of stuff that can more easily handle your location .... and hold up all year ...

ken

Excellent advice everybody! Thank you so much for the input. I will give excessive watering a try next year. And I think Ken hit the nail on the head as well. These are not z8 plants. :) Not much I can do about it. A shame too, I do like the hostas.

And I am definitely not going to replace my $400 rock just so I can grow $10 hostas better. lol. Especially since all my other plants/shrubs/bushes are doing just fine in the rock with weed guard.

Thanks again everyone!

Don't give up, just water more next year, and use snail bait.

Not zone 8 plants?" I beg to differ. Every printed tag I have on most of my hostas lists them hardy to zone 8, and more recently some i.e 'Autumn Frost' say USDA Zone 9. Mine have been up and green since late March. The BIG difference is that we've only had about 7 days total all Summer in the high 90's.

-Babka

A couple of decades ago someone put down plastic with white rock on top of it around all of the trees and shrubs here. I have been picking out pieces of plastic and little white rocks from all over the place for the past ten years. The rocks even grew into the trunks of the trees. I found that out the hard way when taking out one of the Silver Maples. White rock and saw blades don't work well together. White rock also makes it a PITA to plant anything new or take something out. Lava rock is just as bad.

Hi Tokey,

Many hosta will grow very nicely in zone 8. There are varieties that do better than others. That lesson has been driven home for me recently with a trip to the our local arboretum. Some hosta looked like yours and some looked much better (and some looked worse). A couple were still really nice at the end of August, even with our heatwave.

If you want to grow them, you can. The arboretum had them in shade with deep mulch. I don't remember seeing sprinkler heads, so they must have drip irrigation. They had some that were not part of the trial that were in the fern area. Those were sprinklered and have misting on a timer. They were not the least bit burned. They looked almost like they did in the spring.

I grow them in pots and have good results. Just look for varieties that do better in warmer climates. If you're interested, I'll find some links for you.

Below are some photos of two plants, with one seeminly better suited.

bkay

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When I started my recent love affair with hostas, I began with HOSTA PLANTAGENEA, which is the granddaddy of the fragrant hosta family. It is doing fine, and so is my desire to grow different hostas with the different colors, the curly or corrugated or striped variegations. And big ones.

So I understand the issues with zone 8B gardening. I looked at the white rocks, and thought it a neat looking addition, but wondered what it would do for the hostas.

Maybe you can look for something like the aspedistras, or maybe daylilies. Aspedistra like shade too, but they are not as finicky as hostas. I've been trying the variegated ones too. They deal very well with tree roots. And so does asparagus fern. Now that asparagus fern stores water in its roots, and can deal with all sorts of sunshine, potted up or in the ground. Nice thing about asparagus fern, it stays green all year round, unless it gets down to maybe 15 degrees when it might have some fronds burned. It blooms and it makes red berries too. Lots of good qualities.